"Jeno's on fire!"

"What! Where?" 

"It's an expression, Jaem."

"Express all you want, dammit! Where is the fire?"

Mark whacked him with the garnet foam finger he bought for three dollars at the entrance, knocking the yellow shades off Jaemin's face. They clattered to the ground next to a boy covered in obnoxious facepaint and cracked under the weight of his heavy foot. Curse Mark for choosing the seats next to the jocks, Jaemin thought, staring sadly at his glasses carcass. 

"That's his fifth three-pointer of the game. One more and he beats his high school record."

Jaemin watched Jeno fly across the court, shoes squeaking on the waxed linoleum. Number 12, his jersey read in big letters, right beneath his last name, Lee. It was obvious to everybody on the court and in the stands that Jeno was a force to be reckoned with. He wasn't the tallest player, that spot was reserved for a 6'4 boy with neon green twists, but he had a brute force about him. The red jersey clinging to his body left little for the imagination, and there was a lot to imagine. Jaemin sat through countless facetime videos watching Jeno lift weights in the school's gymnasium,  but nothing compared to seeing Jeno's arms under the lights, covered in a thin layer of sweat that made his biceps glisten. 

Jaemin was proud of the #12 jersey on his back and didn't hesitate to flaunt it to the jealous people watching him scream vulgar things at his boyfriend. In Mark's defense, he did try to muzzle Jaemin with the styrofoam finger and a bag of popcorn, but Jaemin shouted around the kernels in his teeth. 

"Get up, you lazy ass," Mark scolded him an hour and forty-five minutes into the game. Jaemin's legs were jelly, and he was still mourning the loss of his dollar-store party glasses. He gave up on being Jeno's personal cheerleader twenty minutes ago, but Mark was a resilient fucker, standing on the bleachers and jumping like he got possessed by a damn kangaroo. Jaemin preferred the finer things in life, like comfy folding chairs and plush cushions. 

Mark rolled his eyes, and Jaemin flicked him off. "Fine. At least take my card and go get food if you're gonna sit here and be a bum." Jaemin plucked the shiny black card from Mark's awaiting hand and happily navigated through the annoyed patrons towards the food stands. Now, Jaemin was notorious for being nosey, and it got him in trouble more often than not, so when he heard Jeno's name from the lips of a boy standing near the bleachers, he slowed his happy skips. 

"Jeno's sleeping at home tomorrow if you want to come by and say hi. I can introduce you guys," an Asian boy with lavender hair said to his friend. Jeno had been staying with Mark and Jaemin at a hotel nearby to avoid the wrath of his RA and said nothing about going back to the dorms that day. 

The other boy shook his head with a smile. "Oh, yeah? Are you ready to make your move, Junnie?"

Junnie scoffed, landing a solid punch on his friend's arm. "As if. Jeno is way out of my league, like, on an entirely different planet, and I can not handle that humiliation today." 

"Are you sure that he's even single?" Junnie's friend said, and Jaemin crept closer. 

"He told me he's bisexual, but he never mentioned a boyfriend. Plus, I've seen his phone a million times and the background is still a picture of Kobe Bryant. The only person he talks to is some kid named Jaemin."

Junnie's friend raised a brow and leaned further against the wall. "Jaemin with a heart or?"

"No, Jaemin with nothing. I think that Jeno-"

Jaemin didn't want to hear the rest. He made the walk of shame to the food stands, buying an over-priced soggy hotdog and a bag of Mark's favorite sour cream and onion chips before making the trek back to their seats. 

"Jaemin! Jeno beat his record," Mark yelled after he passed over the chips. "The scouts are practically begging for him to join their teams. I heard he got an offer to play for the Miami Dolphins."

The scouts in question were hassling Jeno on the sidelines, shoving clipboards and business cards into his hands. Jeno looked half scared and half intrigued by the attention, eyes scanning the audience until they landed on Jaemin. Jaemin in all his pissed-off glory. His face probably matched the neon green tips of the 6'4 player from how jealous he was, but Jeno still smiled like he saw the stars in Jaemin's scowl. Well, until Jaemin flicked him off that is, and the smile slipped from Jeno's face, replaced with a worried tilt of the head. The game continued with Jeno on the bench, looking at Jaemin like he could hear his thoughts if he stared hard enough.  

88-78 was the final score, in favor of Florida State, and Jeno was thriving. Jaemin refused to let a few wayward comments ruin his boyfriend's win, and followed the flow of the crowd out of the venue. They waited by Mark's car while Jeno and Kayla gathered their belongings, talking about trivial things; sports and grades and the Broadway scout that found Jaemin's Rapunzel performance good enough to warrant an audition in New York for Wicked. 

Kayla joined them first, jumping into Mark's arms and landing a dramatic smooch on his forehead. Jaemin couldn't fight the smile on his face watching Mark's eyes sparkle. His little Markie was in love, and Jaemin was happy for him. If anybody in their high school was deserving of genuine, unbridled love, it was Mark Lee. Maybe Jaemin wasn't deserving of Jeno, but he didn't need the universe to rub it in his face.

"Jaemin, hey!" Jeno said, juggling all of his basketball bags in one hand and holding Junnie's wrist with the other. "I wanted you to meet my roommate. Jaemin, this is Renjun. We dorm together and have Psychology with the most irritating woman on Earth." Renjun waved, and Jeno's hand fell from his wrist. It was the happiest Jaemin had been all night. "And Renjun, this is Jaemin. He's my best friend and ex-coworker." 

Motherfucker. 

Even Mark was unabashedly staring at Jeno, jaw to the floor. Jaemin couldn't handle it. He spent two days being Jeno's boyfriend again, for real, and now he was a fucking ex-coworker? What the fuck was that about? Apparently, Renjun knew he was bisexual, so why wouldn't he mention Jaemin? 

"Yeah, Jeno's my best friend ever," Jaemin squealed, clinging to Jeno's arm in a tight side hug. "Which is why I'm very picky with his boyfriends." He gave Renjun the don't-hurt-my-best-friend-or-I'll-kill-you-look, and Renjun blushed. "So, you better treat him good, okay?"

Mark glanced between Jaemin's fabricated smile and Jeno's wounded eyes. Renjun was smiling like he won the basketball game, and slide his hand into Jeno's, agreeing to Jaemin's back-handed statement. 

"Well, that's that. You ready to head back to the hotel, Mark? Kayla should come with us."

"I think I should come, too," Jeno interjected. "Sorry, Renjun. I want to spend another day with my friend and my boyfriend before they leave." He handed his gear to Renjun, with the exception of his jersey, and shoved Jaemin towards the car impatiently. Jaemin saw Renjun's smile morph into a horrified frown as Jeno pushed him through the car door.  A thick silence fell upon the quartet after Kayla finished putting her cheer bag in the trunk. Mark didn't even dare to turn on the radio with the way Jeno's eyes cut through him in the rearview mirror. 

When they arrived at the hotel, Jeno leaned over Jaemin's body to block the door lock and his preplanned escape route. "Hey, you two go ahead. I think Nana and I need to talk," he said to Mark, and Mark didn't hesitate to drag Kayla away from the vehicle and towards the lobby doors. 

"What the fuck is your problem?" Jeno asked in disbelief. Jaemin wasn't sure what to say. 

I missed feeling loved by you. 

You stopped loving me.

Who is Renjun to you?

Why am I not your boyfriend outside of our bubble?

What about me are you ashamed of?

When did you decide I wasn't worth it?

"Do you love me?" He said, and somehow, that was worse than any other question floating in his head. Jeno paused, hesitated. He didn't know how to answer. For the first time in the entire year they'd been talking, Jeno hesitated about loving him, and it fucking stung. "Jeno, it's okay if you don't, you know? Distance doesn't always make the heart grow fonder," Jaemin chuckled weakly, but Jeno stayed silent.

The silence lingered in the empty space, growing heavier with each passing second. 

"Is this because of Renjun?" Jeno asked, and after a slow nod from Jaemin, his eyes softened. "Jaemin, baby, it's you. It's always been you." 

"If it's always been me, then why didn't Renjun know that you have a boyfriend? Why was he planning on asking you out tonight if I'm your baby? Huh? What's that about, Jeno? Because it's hard to feel like you love me when I'm your dirty little secret." Jaemin was becoming angry, hands shaking in his lap and heart pounding in his ears. "I didn't endure years of harassment from your friends to be some man's dirty little fucking secret." 

"Jaemin, please." Exasperation leaked from Jeno's words. "You know I love you." Jaemin scoffed, unlocking the car door and slamming it behind him. In an instant, Jeno was on his trail, pulling Jaemin back by the number 12 on his jersey. "Listen to me, Nana. Listen! Renjun needed to feel loved, alright? I knew he liked me, I admit it, but I was all he had after his boyfriend cheated on him. He was falling apart in my hands, Jaem. I couldn't be the reason he was irreparable." 

Renjun needed to feel loved.

Jaemin felt like Jeno sucker-punched him in the gut. All of the fight drained from his body, and he fell to the concrete, sobbing so violently that the tears created a black puddle on the asphalt. Jeno rushed to hold him, and Jaemin didn't have the strength to push him away. 

"I needed to feel loved, too," he whispered into Jeno's neck, and the hands rubbing his back stopped moving. If Renjun was falling apart in Jeno's hands, Jaemin was quicksand slipping through his fingers, disappearing into the crevices of the concrete. It scared Jeno. It scared Jeno more than anything in his entire life. More than basketball games or college acceptance letters, and it was his fault. 

"We should take a break, Jeno." 

Jeno wondered if a person could die of heartbreak. If their heart could ache for one person so deeply that their absence stilled its beating, leaving it a solid mass in a frozen chest. 

"No, we shouldn't, Jaemin." 

"We're not happy, Jeno!" Jaemin yelled, shoving Jeno away from him and ignoring the pain from the tiny rocks digging into his palm. 

Jeno shook his head. "You're not happy. That's what you mean to say. Jaemin, I spent the entire week before you showed up on autopilot. Kayla had to force me to leave the house because I couldn't fucking do it without you. You make me happy, but I'm selfish. I'm selfish because I don't want to share you with the world. I didn't want you to meet Renjun because you're perfect, and Renjun would love you. I answered my phone in the gym but faced it towards the wall because your smile would make half of the basketball team swoon." Jeno was breathing hard, chest heaving. His hands were soft as they cradled Jaemin's face, brushing across his cheekbones like a kiss from a fairy. "Jaemin," he said, and the sincerity in his eyes made Jaemin melt in his hold, "you're the love of my life. If I wasn't so young and stupid, I'd get on my knees right now and give you the shiniest ring in the universe. One as pretty as you are." 

Jaemin leaned forward, kissing Jeno like he could taste the words on his tongue. 

"If I wasn't so young and stupid, I'd say yes," he whispered against Jeno's lips, tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of Jeno's neck and joining him for another sentence, and another, and another, until he was pulling paragraphs from Jeno's mouth. A story formed in the space between their lips, where their teeth clashed and tongues touched and hands roamed, a story about two boys falling in love, about their worlds becoming tangled. 

How magical was that?